CREED. The Muḥammadan Creed, or Kalimatu ʾsh-shahādah (shortly Kalimah) is the well-known formula:—
“I testify that there is no deity but God, and Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”
It is the belief of Muḥammadans that the first part of this creed, which is called the nafī wa is̤bāt, namely, “There is no deity but God,” has been the expression of belief of every prophet since the days of Adam, and that the second portion has been changed according to the dispensation; for example, that in the days of Moses it would be: “There is no deity but God, and Moses is the Converser with God.” In the Christian dispensation it was: “There is no deity but God, and Jesus is the Spirit of God.”
Jābir relates that Muḥammad said “the keys of Paradise are bearing witness that there is no deity but God.”
The recital of the Kalimah, or Creed, is the first of five pillars of practical religion in Islām; and when anyone is converted to Islām he is required to repeat this formula, and the following are the conditions required of every Muslim with reference to it:—
1. That it shall be repeated aloud, at least once in a life-time.
2. That the meaning of it shall be fully understood.
3. That it shall be believed in “by the heart.”
4. That it shall be professed until death.
5. That it shall be recited correctly.